Seeking Damages After a DUI Accident in Texas

Being involved in a DUI accident is a life-altering experience, leaving victims with significant physical, emotional, and financial burdens. In Texas, victims of DUI accidents have the right to seek compensation for their losses through a personal injury claim. This legal avenue is separate from any criminal proceedings against the at-fault driver, allowing victims to pursue damages for medical expenses, property damage, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Filing a claim after a DUI accident in Texas can be a complex process, especially when dealing with insurance companies and legal deadlines. At Dale R. Rose, PLLC, we provide crucial support by gathering evidence, calculating the value of your claim, and representing your interests in or out of court. 

Your Right to Seek Damages After a DUI Accident in Texas

Under Texas law, you have the right to hold bad actors financially liable for your losses. You may do so by filing a personal injury claim against the party responsible for your DUI. Notably, a personal injury claim is not the same thing as a criminal charge. 

However, a DUI accident lawyer in Texas may help you calculate the value of the damages you deserve after an accident with a negligent driver. So long as we file your claim before your statute of limitations expires, we have the right to take your negligent party to civil court. 

Finding Evidence of Fault

You need to meet Texas’s burden of proof if you want to move a DUI case forward in civil court. Fortunately, working with a DUI accident lawyer allows you to connect with professional investigators. Those investigators may return to the accident scene and reach out to their contacts to gather:

• Electronic data relevant to your accident
• The results of field sobriety tests and chemical tests
• Statements from bartenders, friends, and accident witnesses
• Expert witness statements
• Physical debris from your accident
• Photos and video footage of the accident

All of this data becomes the foundation on which we build your fight for compensation. The data specifically tells the story of what negligence led to your accident, how the liable party violated the duty they owed you, and what damages you subsequently deserve.

Determining the Value of Your Case

You have an obligation to calculate the value of the DUI case you plan to bring forward in civil court. Fortunately, personal injury cases allow you to recover damages based on more than your economic losses. You also have the right to include the value of losses like your pain and suffering or mental anguish in your request for support.

We add the value of those damages to the cost of your property damage, essential medical services, and lost wages. Doing so allows us to find the total value of your case. We may then refer back to those calculations when arguing for your right to compensation in or out of civil court.

If you take your case to civil trial, a judge may opt to award you punitive damages based on the gross negligence that led to your DUI accident. However, we can’t factor the alleged value of those damages into your initial claim. Likewise, you won’t receive punitive damages if your case doesn’t go to trial.

Going to Trial or Fighting in Private: How to Get the Damages You Deserve

You are under no obligation to go before a judge or jury when it comes time to act on your losses. Filing a personal injury claim doesn’t lock you into trial proceedings. If a liable party recognizes the damage they did to your property and person, you may arrange out-of-court negotiations for the settlement you deserve.

We recommend having a Texas DUI lawyer present for these negotiations. We may keep the conversation centered on your right to recover and prevent a liable party from intimidating you out of legal action.

If you’d prefer to forgo negotiations in favor of a civil trial, we may move you into discovery shortly after completing your claim. You may count on our representation throughout your case and even after, should you need to appeal a judge’s decision about your right to recover.

It’s Time to Get Justice for a DUI

You deserve justice after a DUI accident. While the state fights to hold a negligent driver criminally responsible for your losses, our Texas DUI accident lawyers may advocate for you in civil court. Our efforts may see you compensated for the economic and non-economic losses you sustained due to someone else’s negligence.
Our team has decades of combined legal experience advocating for Texans in need of civil support. Don’t let your case’s statute of limitations expire before you take action. Book a free DUI case consultation with our team today. Call (972) 634-ROSE (7673) or contact us online to get started.